𝐃𝐀𝐖𝐍

𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡

∘◦ ☆ ◦∘

𝐒𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐋𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 up from a dreamless sleep, I cracked open my eyes. Streams of light shone through the curtains, illuminating the room. It must have been late morning, as I could hear the crew walking around above where I was laying.

Pulling off the thick wool blanket, I sat up and swung my legs to the floor. Slipping on my shoes that were sitting beside the foot of my bed, I rubbed my eyes to get the rest of the sleep out of them and stifled a yawn.

Leaving the room, I walked down the hallway, turning a narrow corner to get to the ladder, but I bumped into someone who was walking pretty quickly, "Oh! Sorry, it's hard to see around the corner..." I laughed nervously, but when I looked up, I realized it was just Eustace.

"Dawn..." He spoke unsurely, the tension was very thick. I wound my fingers together for something to make myself feel less awkward. After a few heartbeats of us just standing there, he spoke again, "You don't happen to know where they store the food, do you?"

I shook my head, "Sorry, no I don't."

Eustace scuffed quietly and pushed past me, continuing his path down the hall in some sort of suppressed anger, "Okay then."

Continuing my own way up to the deck of the ship, I climbed the rope and wood ladder to the top. Stepping into the sunlight felt nice as it warmed up my skin, the warm breeze blew my hair around my head.

Walking towards the centre of the deck, I noticed Edmund and Reepicheep sitting against the banister working on the sword King Caspian gave him. The top of the blade was clean of barnacles, but you could see that the metal was rusted and needed cleaning.

Making my way over, I sat next to Edmund, "Hey guys."

"Hello Dawn," Reepicheep greeted, giving me a bright smile along with it, "How did you sleep?"

Glancing at Edmund for a brief second, I smiled, "Good."

Suddenly a loud clang sounded and I noticed that the knife Edmund was holding dropped to the wood floor, the metal teetering against the polish.

Confused, I turned to see him giving me a heated glare, his eyes sharp and his jaw set. I had no idea where it came from, but his stare made me shrink back into myself.

Setting the rusty sword beside him, he reached towards my face, trying to grab my chin but I flinched away from him on instinct.

"Reep, do you see this?" Edmund spoke through clenched teeth, trying to reach for my chin again.

Scurrying over, Reepicheep took a look at what the dark-haired king was seeing, "Well, it seems you have gotten yourself a mighty bruise."

"Really?" I questioned, raising my hand to touch my cheek. It mildly stung when I pressed firmly, "It doesn't hurt too bad. Must have been when the man hit me."

"Perhaps some ice will help," Reepicheep sympathetically offered, leaving his place and disappearing under the feet of crew members.

✧

After a while of talking to Edmund, Reepicheep seemed to have vanished. He hadn't come back and I haven't seen him distracted around the ship anywhere, on the deck at least.

"I heard you saw some mermaids a couple days ago?" Edmund spoke up, raising his eyebrow in question, but he didn't look at me.

"Yeah," I breathed, "They look like they're made of water, one waved at-"

Yelling came from across the deck, making me stop what I was saying, the sounds of Reepicheep and Eustace's voices were what was the loudest.

Glancing at Edmund with a confused look, I quickly got up and made my way over, shoving my way through the crowd that was forming around the two. When I made it to the front, I saw Eustace holding a large knife, it looked top heavy and you could tell he didn't know how to hold it. Reepicheep had his sword drawn and pointed at him, standing on a barrel so he was chest height with him.

"Stop flapping your wings like a drunken pelican! Poise. Keep your blade up," Reepicheep instructed, motioning to Eustace with his sword. He raised his knife slightly, "Up, up! That's it!"

Eustace swung at him but missed as Reepicheep jumped from the barrel to the banister of the ship, laughing in happiness, "Yoo-hoo! Over here!"

Eustace spun around quickly, bouncing the knife in his hand and eyeing Reepicheep with a sliver of annoyance.

"Now, lunge with your foot. Not your left, your right," Reepicheep exclaimed as he watched Eustace switch feet and take a fighting stance, "Got it? Come on. Be nimble! Be nimble!"

Eustace swung at him again and this time it was really close, his improvement was astonishing, "It's a dance, boy, a dance. Come on now, again and again."

They swung at each other again, and Reepicheep kept jumping out of the way at the last second, hanging onto the ropes with his tail to free himself of danger, "That's right, that's right!

Taking one more full swing, Eustace lunged forward a little too far, making Reepicheep lean back in order to not be cut, wobbling over the edge of the ship. Gasping, I watched as he fell over the edge and Eustace run forward and lean over the banister to see what happened.

I rushed to follow him, but someone grabbed my arm firmly, turning to see who it was, I noticed Edmund shake his head and point up to one of the ropes. Looking up, I saw Reepicheep quietly making his way down to hang behind Eustace's back by his tail. I let out a breath, knowing he was okay.

Reepicheep tapped the boy on the shoulder, scaring him as he turned around to see the mouse. Slicing his shirt open, he stuck his sword into something,"That is for stealing..." Pulling it out he showed everyone an orange, "That is for lying..." Smacking Eustace across the face with it, he tossed the orange to Drinian, "That is for good measure!"

Tripping over his own feet, Eustace fell into a basket that tipped over from his weight, a girly scream emitting from inside.

"Look..." Lucy whispered from a few feet away. A young girl crawled out from inside the basket and I recognized her immediately from the Lone Islands.

"Gael?" Her father questioned, stepping forward to hug her to his side, "What are you doing here?"

She hugged him tightly and didn't respond, cowering behind him to hide from the crew. You could tell she was scared that she was caught, being a stowaway couldn't have been easy.

Drinian stepped before Gael, sizing her up with a stern look etched on his face, "Looks like we have an extra crew member," She hid behind her father more, but Drinian's face cracked into a soft smile and he offered her the orange, "Welcome aboard."

Taking is gingerly, she smiled back at him, then turned to Lucy who approached her, "Call me Lucy. Come on," She coaxed her with her hand on her back and led her between the crew members, out of sight.

"Look lively, back to work!" Drinian called to the crowd, waving his hand in the air and in response, everyone dispersed.

Putting my hand on Eustace's shoulder, who was now standing again, I smiled at him as he looked over his shoulder at me, "Good match. I wasn't too happy about the stunt though Reepicheep."

"It's all in good fun. I'll make a swordsman of him yet." Reepicheep laughed heavily, smiling at Eustace.

"Yes, well, if the playing field were a little more even, it would've been an entirely different result." He spoke, a tiny smile playing on his lips, but I could see it.

"Indeed." Reepicheep and I said at the same time, both of us gazing at the boy with amused eyes.

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Hey! I know nothing really big happened here, and the last chapter was filler, but I promise you the next chapter has a major event in it and the plot will continue.

Also, thank you guys so so so much for 4k reads! And all the people who commented on my book, I appreciate you guys a lot, it makes me so happy to see people engaging in my writing! <3